Caves and cave shelters were the
initial home for prehistoric people. Caves
and cave shelters have one uninterrupted space defined by rock walls but
spatial segregation would have occurred for catering variety of activities
which could be ranging from highly personal to very social. During the ongoing
Speleology project carried out by the Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology of
the University of Kelaniya, space management in caves by prehistoric people
were imagined based on the basic behavior such as cooking, eating, chatting,
playing, love making and kindergarten of the prehistoric people. Five caves
among the 10 studied namely Sthreepura Lena Cave (06°49' 54.6'' N; 80°22'
27.8''E) and Divaguhawa Lena Cave in Kuruvita (06°49' 50.1'' N; 80°22' 23.8''
E), Vavul Guhava Cave in Kosgala (06°43' 31.5'' N; 80°20' 34.6'' E), Hakurugala
Raja Mahawiharaya Cave (07°01'. 54.6'' N, 080°14' 36.0'' E) and Keragoda Galge
Cave in Mahiyanganaya (07°26'. 43.53'' N, 081°05' 31.5'' E) shows the basic and
vital spaces needed for the optimum benefit of each individual as well as the
groups. Spatial distribution among individuals and groups would have occurred I
these caves particularly among various groups such as kids, teens, matured,
eldest, strongest, and weakest and the leader and his closest followers. The
spaces in those caves would have provided facilities for spatial segregation
among entire age and size structures. Caves such as Batadomba Lena Cave in Kuruwita,
Beli Lena Cave in Kithulgala, Pothgul Lena Cave in Alawala and Fahiyan Lena
Cave in Bulathsinhala show a model of the living space used by the prehistoric
man. Archaeological evidence has proved that those caves were successful
settlements during the prehistoric times. It can be concluded that continuous
space in the cave interior would have catered for variety of human behaviors of
different individuals and groups. Political hierarchy would have been another
invisible dimension in cave dwelling human society. The success and the failure
of the prehistoric human society would have influenced by the availability of
space. The factors that divide the space of the cave for various activities
would have been the spaces and shapes with different amounts of volumes, light,
humidity and the surface rhythm of each defined space.